A couple of issues came up in this conversation. First, the police asked Sid if he felt that the story they had fielded complaints about, “I Am Ready to Serve My Country,” was something he would accept as a paper in one of his classes. He indicated that he took issue with my comma usage, but that yes, absolutely, he felt that this was appropriate. He pointed out that as an English grad student, writing is my job, and that it is expected that I would be practicing my craft, and that I might try things that push the envelope.
They asked again if I would agree to be fingerprinted. I said I was not. They claimed that this was unreasonable, and that fingerprinting was routine in many cases, particularly when one takes a job working with children. Sid and Kenneth quickly pointed out that it was my right to not be fingerprinted, and that I did not have a job working with children. They implied that my refusal to be fingerprinted might mean that they would go through my garbage to get a DNA sample. Around this time, Sid suggested that the police had become caught up in a culture of paranoia, and that this was ridiculous…
(Via BoingBoing.)
From what little I’ve read, the guy is a pretty creative horror writer. The sad thing for me… all too many Americans probably read something like this and think the guy must be guilty of something since he won’t hand over his fingerprints and DNA.
Leave a Reply